1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sleighs adapted to be pulled over a snow covered landscape. More particularly, the present invention relates to sleighs and vehicles that fold or collapse to a stored position from an operating position. In the collapsed or folded storage position, the vehicle is easily stored and transported.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sleighs have been used for many centuries to travel over snow covered landscapes. Far and away the most likely used motive force for such sleighs is one or more horses. The one horse open sleigh is a staple of American folklore that is almost synonymous with the Christmas season.
Yet despite the nostalgic connotations and recreational possibilities associated with such sleighs, relatively few sleighs exist, and most of those are of the antique variety. A major problem associated with the ownership of a sleigh is where to put it when it is not being used. A related problem is how to easily transport the sleigh to where it can be most effectively used.
Owners of sleighs cannot always conveniently store the sleigh for the reason that space is often at a premium. In rural situations, space must be allotted to horses and feed and other implements necessary to care for horses. The best area for use of a sleigh is the rural areas. This often means that the user of a sleigh must haul horses from a metropolitan area to such a rural area. The problem then becomes how to haul both the horse and the sleigh at the same time.
As far as can be determined, no one has heretofore built a horse-drawn sleigh that can be collapsed into a relatively flat, compact or knocked down storage and transport position. No one has made an adjustable width tree to which various sized horses can be secured. Other land vehicles collapsible to a stored position and adapted to move over a snow or ice covered landscape have been known.
A collapsible sled is seen in R. Rich, U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,290, wherein a multisectioned sled has an operative position and a folded position. In the folded position, the longitudinally extending sled is folded about multiple transverse axes into a stacked storage position. Both wheels and runners are shown in association with the sled and the side runners are, as with the other sections of the sled, broken transverse to their length in order to fold the entire sled.
Other collapsible vehicle structures adapted to be pulled over a snow landscape also fold about transverse axes relative to the length. In L. Gibson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,964, a collapsible snow sled has a single front steerable runner that pivots about a transverse axis to be stored under a support body in a position between a pair of side runners. In M. Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,238, a sled having front and rear portions foldable on top of each other through a transverse hinge is seen. A sliding base is seen in P. Rickenbacher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,367, which has a similar folding configuration to that of Johnson. No runners are shown in Rickenbacher. A concept similar to Johnson and Rickenbacher is shown in W. Howarth, U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,953, an ice rescue craft. Hinges transverse to the length of a runnerless vehicle are shown in the foldable toboggan of B. Hooper, U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,748.
A pivotal connection through a transverse axis between a steerable front runner and the body of a sled is shown in O. Hansen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,746. O. Hansen provides for stable movement over varying terrain. Folding a pair of skis about a longitudinal axis to a nested position in a ski-like device is shown in K. Henson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,495. A coupling device in Henson allows skis that are otherwise fixed relative to each other, to fold into the bottom to bottom nested position for storage. A support structure shown for a folding sled is seen in R. Thiboutet, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,245,849 and 4,294,457, wherein the structure is collapsible generally into a plane which, in the case of the '457 patent, is a vertically oriented longitudinal plane essentially bisecting the distance between a pair of parallely extending skis.